The Ponte Vedra Sharks boys basketball squad experienced one of the craziest quarters they will ever play as they hung on to defeat the Gainesville High Hurricanes 60-57 in the regional semifinals on Monday, Feb. 17.
Both offenses came alive, and the Sharks were outscored by the Hurricanes 30-27 in the fourth quarter, a score usually reserved for what teams achieve over an entire half of play.
The Sharks held a 33-27 lead heading into the final quarter, but the game quickly switched from a defensive slugfest to an offensive and scoring clinic.
Although the Sharks were able to remain in front throughout the fourth quarter, they needed each of the 30 points they compiled during the frame to keep pace with a furious attack by the Hurricanes.
However, on each occasion the Sharks were up to the task and proved to have an answer to what the Hurricanes threw at them.
Senior David Sanchez Barrera led all scorers with 23 points, including knocking down three bombs from beyond the arc, as he was not ready for his high school career to come to an end on that night.
Each of his three-point shots came in the first quarter and were crucial in helping the Sharks cut the early deficit after the Hurricanes stormed out of the gate to a 15-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The only thing that kept Sanchez Barrera’s night from being even bigger was some early foul trouble that he found himself in, which meant managing his minutes at times.
The Sharks asserted themselves in the game by grabbing the lead in the second quarter thanks to outscoring the Hurricanes 16-5 as both the offense and defense seemed to find their groove and feed off each other.
Maddox Palmer scored 15 points that was highlighted by a dunk that sent shockwaves throughout the Shark Tank and extended the Sharks lead to 10 points with roughly three minutes to play in the game.
Trace Westercamp had an all-around night with 11 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for the Sharks.
With top-seeded Fleming Island High being upset by Tallahassee Leon in their regional semifinal, the Sharks will now host the Lions on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. with a trip to the final four on the line.
